Extracted Text

The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:

16

Laws, Orders and Contracts

in Austin relative to the local government of the colony, that it wasextensive, and without clearly defined limits, except submission to thegovernor of Texas, and the commandant general; and that consequentlythe degree of moral, as well as personal responsibility, which rested uponhim indivdually, was co-extensively great. Had he been furnished withlaws and fixed rules for a guide, his responsibility would have dependedon his observance of, or departure from those laws or fixed rules; batplaced as he was, a peculiar or prejudiced view of his acts, by his superiors,might have involved him in total ruin or unmerited disgrace. Itwill also be seen that no salary or alowance whatever was assigned him,to defray the expenses of the local government, all of which consequentlyhad to be borne by himself, and which in this jurisdiction were many,owing to its peculiar situation with respect to the Indians, and also forthe want of regular soldiers, for expresses, guards, but he was not bound in anymanner by that contract, to take upon himself the labor, responsibilityand expense of the local government; and had he refused to have doneit, and some other person had been appointed for that purpose, it wouldnot in any way have interfered with his right to premium land. So thatit was, in fact, altogether gratuitous on his part, so far as dependedon his contract with the government, to undertake that labor, or not,as he pleased. Why then did he accept of so heavy and expensivea charge? He accepted it because it was necessary for the advancementof the colony that some one should do so; and no one would haveaccepted it without a compensation; he considered that he was boundby the original contracts, which he thought were fairly and publiclymade, between him and the settlers, previous to the commencementof the colony, as heretofore stated, to be at all the labor and expense ofprocuring the titles, and advancing the settlement, so far as it lay in hispower, by his individual exertions; calculating that the settlers wouldnever wish to evade the payment stipulated on their parts, when theysaw that he had complied, and more than complied on his; for he promisedthem lands by hundreds of acres, and they have received it bv thousands;league tracts were granted to them by the government, in placeof the sections promised by Austin. His expectations, however, wereall disappointed; the original contracts passed away, and the colony wasdragged forward, amidst pecuniary embarrassments and poverty, withthe fatal weight of internal opposition superadded to its other difficulties.Some misunderstanding has heretofore existed in regard to the paymentson land in this colony. For instance, it has been stated by thosewho knew nothing of the law, or of the subject, that Austin sold theland to the settlers; that he exacted from them what he had no rightby law to exact; that he was speculating on the settlers, to wit(16)